Raiders of the Lost Temple of Do’om! by Brian Cameron

This is a pretty basic attempt at running a ‘hybrid’ game with some players present and some participating remotely.  In a bit of a turnaround from recent meetings, three will be present and only on remotely.  I’ll also be present so the challenge will be to ensure that Terry will be able to join in effectively.

To make it easier for me to run I’ve limited the number of participants to four – my apologies if you wanted to play but didn’t make the final cut(!)   The players will be acting as a team (and there are no hidden agendas) and I’ll running everything else.  Viewers are welcome but bring your own bottle of pop and bag of sweets.

Remote participation / viewing will be courtesy of Dave Boundy’s Jitsi server : https://video.boundy.uk/together

I intend to make use of figures and scenery in a very conventional fashion.  I had thought about using the webcam to represent the groups’ view of the situation but, ironically, that’s not practical when players are present and I don’t fancy the extra opportunities for sod’s law to work by scattering the players around the hall, each with a laptop/etc.  So they’ll likely be a bit of fiddling to provide Terry with a good view.

The game itself obviously takes its inspiration from the Indiana Jones movies and thus from the 1930s Saturday morning serials.  Each week the episode closed on a cliff-hanger ending which isn’t terribly likely in this game but it is planned as a number of episodes.  I’ve no idea whether we’ll get to the denouement.  You won’t be railroaded into making various choices, there’s sufficient flexibility designed in to provide a choice about routes and actions to take.  While all the serials were American made, our four stars are all true Brits.

I like this type of game to move along at a good pace so decision making will need to be quick.  Events will be resolved very simply to keep things moving along at a pace.  It’s a system I call MIUAIGA – making it up as I go along – but basically it comes down to competitive die rolls between players and their opponents.  A number of ordinary six sided dice will be used (Terry – do you have such exotica?) and 4+ will be a success.

Characteristics of the 1930s Saturday morning serials:

• No one ever counts anything except the last bullet – so don’t concern yourself with exactly what you have in the way of guns, ammo, supplies, rope, etc (I’ll give you just enough rope…)
• The heroes are suitable honourable and, well, heroic.  They are rarely cautious and never cowardly.
• The bad guys are instantly recognisable by their grim faces, bad manners and tendency to shout a lot.
• Charles Dickens, master of the implausible coincidence, was clearly an inspiration for many writers.
• Something which occurs may seem unlikely to you but actually it happens all the time in serials.
• Finally – good things happen to good people.

The Opening scene

Dr Arthur Frobisher-Smith, a world famous archaeologist, and his companions set off on an expedition to a region of darkest Africa two years ago and have not been heard of since.  They were last reported in the remote jungle region of Th’adawa, searching for the lost temple of Do’om (a spirit god of the local people).  The temple reportedly contains a marvellous treasure known as the Eye of Xyst.

The players are four friends who, at the request of the family, are searching for them and are newly arrived at the port of Momboso on the east coast of Africa.

They are:

	Deborah Southall Pioneering pilot and adventurer
	Terry Martin Former member of the colonial officer (central Asia)
	John Rutherford Curator at the Metropolitan Museum
	Mukul Patel Disinherited by his father, he roams the globe in search of adventure and to make his own fortune

Note: none of the backgrounds are likely to be relevant but I like to throw in seemingly useless stuff; it’s amazing what use players sometimes make of it more involved games and storylines.